History Trivia / LethalWeapon

* CaliforniaDoubling: In the case of CaliforniaDoubling, it's {{Inverted}}. The guy who says "Bravo" after the first building was blown up in the third film? None other than Bill Frederick, then the mayor of Orlando, Florida. The building used was Orlando's old City Hall building. Those familiar with the city will also recognize the [=SunTrust=] Center, the Orlando Utilities Commission building, and the new/current City Hall (which had a Coca-Cola sign planted on it). You can even make out a TV van from local ABC affiliate WFTV during the implosion.
** The building imploded in TheStinger was in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* ReCut: Creator/RichardDonner released Director's Cuts of the first three films.

** Jeffrey Boam's unused script for the fourth film was built around Riggs and Murtaugh dealing with racist white trash [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic right wing]] [[ThoseWackyNazis neo-nazi]] [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic survivalists militia group]] who were doing a terrorist attack in L.A.

** Jeffrey Boam's unused script for the fourth film was built around Riggs and Murtaugh dealing with racist white trash right wing neo-nazi survivalists militia group who were doing a terrorist attack in L.A.

** Whilst Mel Gibson had commercial success in the ''Film/MadMax'' films and critical success in ''Film/Gallipoli'' and ''Film/TheYearOfLivingDangerously'', the original ''Film/LethalWeapon'' was the film that established him as an A-lister.

* StarMakingRole: ''Lethal Weapon 4'' is the film responsible for introducing American audiences to Creator/JetLi.

** ''Film/FortEightHours.'' from 1982 should be considered the origin of the 1980s buddy-cop film, but the Lethal Weapon series does codify most of the tropes.

** ''Film/48Hrs.'' from 1982 should be considered the origin of the 1980s buddy-cop film, but the Lethal Weapon series does codify most of the tropes.
* InMemorium: The first film was dedicated to legendary stuntman Dar Robinson, who was killed in a motorcycle accident shortly after principal photography was finished.

** Creator/LeonardNimoy was one of the choices considered for directing, but he didn't feel comfortable doing action movies, and he was working on ''Film/3MenAndABaby'' at the time.

** Jeffrey Boam' (qv)'s unused script for the fourth film was built around Riggs and Murtaugh dealing with racist white trash right wing neo-nazi survivalists militia group who were doing a terrorist attack in L.A.

* TheDanza: In the second film, the carpenter is named McGee. This is the actual surname of the actor portraying him, Jack McGee.

** In the second film, Jack McGee ad-libbed his line about the condom commercial during rehearsals. The cast and crew liked it so much it was kept in the film.

* CareerResurrection: The original was one for Gary Busey.

** ''48 Hrs.'' from 1982 should be considered the origin of the 1980s buddy-cop film, but the Lethal Weapon series does codify most of the tropes.

** JetLi was delighted to get the role of Wah Sing Ku because in China he is repeatedly type cast as a hero and he revelled getting a chance to play a villain for once. He would play villains in other American movies afterwards, but this was his first real bad guy role.
* StarMakingRole: ''Lethal Weapon 4'' is the film responsible for introducing American audiences to JetLi.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The late ChristopherReeve of Superman fame reportedly turned down the role of Martin Riggs, which went to Creator/MelGibson.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The late ChristopherReeve of Superman fame reportedly turned down the role of Martin Riggs, which went to Creator/MelGibson.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The late ChristopherReeve of Superman fame reportedly turned down the role of Martin Riggs, which went to MelGibson.

* HeyItsThatGuy[=/=]CaliforniaDoubling: In the case of CaliforniaDoubling, it's {{Inverted}}. The guy who says "Bravo" after the first building was blown up in the third film? None other than Bill Frederick, then the mayor of Orlando, Florida. The building used was Orlando's old City Hall building. Those familiar with the city will also recognize the [=SunTrust=] Center, the Orlando Utilities Commission building, and the new/current City Hall (which had a Coca-Cola sign planted on it). You can even make out a TV van from local ABC affiliate WFTV during the implosion.

* Bowdlerise: Initial UK releases of Lethal Weapon 2 and 4 suffered cuts for a lower category.

* ActorAllusion: [[Film/MadMax This isn't the first time Mel Gibson plays a burnt out cop whose wife has been murdered.]]

* ThrowItIn: Leo's rants about people who fuck you with various goods and services, (The drive-thru, the hospital, etc.) are improvised. In fact, when he goes on his rant about being fucked by the hospital in two, you can see Renee Russo [[{{Corpsing}} start to crack up]] in one shot before it's cut to another. The rant he and Butters (ChrisRock) go on about cellphones in ''4'' is entirely unscripted, with Donner apparently just telling them to, "Bitch about cell phones for a while."

* PlayingAgainstType: Kind of; Leo Getz, like most of JoePesci's characters, is a hot-headed little guy with a HairTriggerTemper, but where most of Pesci's well-known characters tended to back this up by being genuinely dangerous and often psychotic thugs, Leo's pretty much harmless, a bit of a ButtMonkey and for all his bluster a pretty nice guy.

* ThrowItIn: Leo's rants about people who fuck you with various goods and services, (The drive-thru, the hospital, etc.) are improvised. In fact, when he goes on his rant about being fucked by the hospital in two, you can see Renee Russo [[{{Corpsing}} start to crack up]] in one shot before it's cut to another. The rant he and Butters (ChrisRock) go on about cellphones in ''4'' is entirely unscripted, with Donner apparently just telling them to, "Bitch about cell phones for a while."

* ThrowItIn: Leo's rants about people who fuck you with various goods and services, (The drive-thru, the hospital, etc.) are improvised. In fact, when he goes on his rant about being fucked by the hospital in two, you can see Renee Russo [[{{Corpsing}} start to crack up]] in one shot before it's cut to another. The rant he and Butters ((ChrisRock)) go on about cellphones in ''4'' is entirely unscripted, with Donner apparently just telling them to, "Bitch about cell phones for a while."

* ThrowItIn: Leo's rants about people who fuck you with various goods and services, (The drive-thru, the hospital, etc.) are improvised. In fact, when he goes on his rant about being fucked by the hospital in two, you can see Renee Russo [[{{Coprsing}} start to crack up]] in one shot before it's cut to another. The rant he and Butters ((ChrisRock)) go on about cellphones in ''4'' is entirely unscripted, with Donner apparently just telling them to, "Bitch about cell phones for a while."

* StarMakingRole: ''Lethal Weapon 4'' is the film responsible for introducing American audiences to JetLi.

** The building imploded post-credits was in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* PlayingAgainstType: Kind of; Leo Getz, like most of JoePesci's characters, is a hot-headed little guy with a HairTriggerTemper, but where most of Pesci's well-known characters tended to back this up by being genuinely dangerous and often psychotic thugs, Leo's pretty much harmless, a bit of a ButtMonkey and for all his bluster a pretty nice guy.

** The building imploded post-credits was in St. Petersburg, Florida.